Still running through old materials looking for more weird clocks to animate. One clock was described in a journal about Islamic culture, which also included a lengthy article on Khaldun. His description of historical cycles is both accurate and well-known. He also had trenchant observations on a subject closer to home: the Dry Line.
I’ve talked about the Dry Line a few times, but never found a map that shows it explicitly and correctly. Finally found one in a 1904 NatGeo:
Dry Line divides East from West in land and plants and culture. West of Dry Line the land is dry and flat, the plants are sparse, and the people are laconic and private. East of Dry Line the land is hills and creeks and woods, and the people are noisy and intrusive.
= = = = = START KHALDUN:
On the cycle of history. (This part is familiar)
According to Ibn Khaldun the natural course of development is the following:
Rise of society in consequence of man’s instinctive social impulses
Formation of tribes
Predominating influence of one tribe over others and the beginning of kingship
Development of kingship
Passage from nomadic to settled life
Rise of towns
Increase of luxury with advancing civilization
Decline of the ruling power
A younger, stronger and more efficient power replaces the old
This process continues endlessly repeating itself.
= = = = =
On the Dry Line:
In the geographical conditions obtaining in the Orient, which are precisely the same in Asia and the North African provinces under Arab rule, society shows itself in two essentially different forms: nomadic and settled life. Both are the necessary results of the external conditions in which society has developed there.
Even in the Egyptians, whose country lies in the (tropical) Zone, we find the very same carelessness and easy manners.
On the other hand the inhabitants of Fez in West Africa (Morocco) display the very opposite qualities. Surrounded by INCLEMENT HIGH PLAINS, they are just the reverse of the Egyptians, being serious, cautious, circumspect. Whereas in Egypt no one dreams of laying by provisions for any length of time, the people of Fez often store supplies for a whole year.
= = = = =
On NYC:
In shamelessness they are unabashed. They use indecorous language, and the presence of relatives or females exercises no restraining influence upon them. Very different is the case in nomad life, where the esteem in which women are held will not permit of the use of an improper word in their presence.
= = = = =
On kinship:
Going back to primitive epochs, when individual groups led their unstable life, each by itself and for itself, ever in dread of attack, and therefore ever ready to protect its belongings, its women, children, servants and herds against hostile raids, we find the consciousness of oneness tremendously powerful there as most of the members of the tribe are actually linked together in the ties of kinship. Every one regards himself as part of the whole and the whole stands for the individual.
Such is the case with the wandering tribes of the desert. And this feeling is all the more effective as every individual warrior of a tribe has but one supreme duty, one absorbing thought, namely, to protect his tribe and the members thereof. Hence one without trusty helpers and allies must perish in the struggle for existence.
As the Communal spirit and the readiness to mutual help are founded upon a sense of kinship or common descent, it follows that kinship should be deemed something sacred and be extended to its remotest limit, for through it does the tribe secure influence, respect and importance.
Clients and slaves are included in the family, and as such share in its rights and duties.
= = = = = END KHALDUN.
The last sentence strikes a strong resonance. When I visited old friend Larry’s Chickasaw family, I was treated as a family member. I was allowed to sleep on the couch and eat their food, and I was also ALLOWED to help with the dishes and laundry.
The rights and duties were both equal parts of hospitality, both GIFTS. The tribes recognize that the best gift of all is USEFULNESS AND RESPONSIBILITY.
See also the Cherokee talent for cultivating slaves. When slaves are part of the clan they are trained to be responsible partners in the success of the tribe.
Polistra's Mill 